Richard Libertini's character is referred to as "James Kirsten" several times and is listed that way on his office building's directory, but when Jordan Oliver and the other characters meet him he is thereafter referred to only as "Jack Kirsten.
I guess I'm midway between the few people who liked the film and the multitude who hated it. With a bit of astute editing, it could be rendered mildly amusing in a bizarre sort of way.
Apparently meant to be zany, this incredibly stupid film relates the predicament of "Oliver" (Bob Dishy) who, after being caught pilfering a quarter of a million from his employer, is given a chance, because his father founded the firm, to recompense that amount within 30 days in order to have charges dropped; however, when his wealthy wife, played by Joanna Barnes, informs him of her intention to obtain a divorce, thereby cutting off his income, Oliver arranges for a two-week, million dollar life insurance policy for his spouse with him as sole beneficiary, intending therefore to have her murdered, in this fashion solving his felonious fiscal problem. He then openly asks virtually anyone whom he sees if a payment of $25000 will purchase the murder of his wife, and finally locates a character named Bobo (Bill Dana) who agrees to take on the assignment, but when Oliver changes his mind he finds that Bobo has sub-contracted the hit to another who does the same and so on and on ad nauseum, while a flock of sub-contractors, in this poorly filmed, edited and acted affair, chase about in search of the final $6.
This movie is most famous for Peter Sellers' original involvement with the production, but when he was suddenly hospitalized with a heart condition, the producers replaced him with Bob Dishy, a comic actor who made many one-shot appearances on various TV shows. Dishy does give it his best with a script provided by Mickey Rose, a frequent collaborator for Woody Allen films and wrote and directed the original slasher spoof Student Bodies.
Good cast and kinda of a cute film but really doesn't have to many laughs for me. I love zany comedies generally speaking but this one isn't as funny as I was hoping it would be.
Oliver is a man in desperate need of money so he decides to have his rich wife killed off. To this end, he hires a man to assassinate her only to later have a change of heart.
Hi, I'm Mark Kermode of the BBC. When not inexplicably getting paid to tell you what I thought about films, I like to trawl through my Mill Creek box sets for undiscovered gems.
Jordon Oliver (Bob Dishy) has been fired from his job for embezzling. His wife Clarice (Joanna Barnes) wants a divorce and Jordon does a lousy Bogart impersonation.
The mystery is how it could be so bad. The cast is a great collection of comic character actors of the 1970's.
Abysmal farce about a man who hires a hit man to kill his wife, but when he wants to call it off he can't because it's been sub-contracted to too many different 'wacky' characters. Similar in style to THE BIG BUS and AIRPLANE, but much more sillier.
